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Cannes film festival reveals 'political' competition line-up

Two dissident directors are part of the festival's selection: the Iranian Jafar Panahi and the Russian Kirill Serebrennikov. Other provocative filmmakers are part of the line-up, including Jean-Luc Godard and Spike Lee.

The Cannes film festival unveiled Thursday its selection featuring highly political names. Iranian director Jafar Panahi and his Russian counterpart Kirill Serebrennikov are in the running for the prestigious Palme d'Or prize — even though neither can leave their country.

Festival director Thierry Fremaux said he is pleading with the two countries' authorities to allow Panahi, who is under a work and travel ban, and Serebrennikov, who is under house arrest, to be allowed to fly to the festival on the French Riviera next month to show their new films, "Three Faces" and "Leto."

Panahi's film "Taxi," in which he also played the lead role (photo), won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2015

Another renowned political voice, US director Spike Lee, is also in the line-up. His film "BlacKkKlansman," starring Adam Driver ("Star Wars"), is about a black policeman who manages to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.

Nouvelle Vague provocateur Jean-Luc Godard is in the running latest work, "Le livre d'image." This year's film festival poster is based on a still from Godard's 1965 classic, "Pierrot le fou," which shows Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina kissing.

Even though the movie industry has been dominated by the #MeToo movement in the last year, only three women directors will be vying for the Palme d'Or among a selection of 18 works: Lebanon's Nadine Labaki for "Capernaum," France's Eva Husson for "Girls of the Sun," and Italian Alice Rohrwacher with "Lazzaro Felice."

German veteran Wim Wenders will be showing his documentary, "Pope Francis — A Man of his Word," in a special section, while the latest Star Wars spin-off focusing on Han Solo, "Solo: A Star Wars Story," will celebrate its premiere, adding stars to the festival's legendary red carpet.

Netflix pulls out of festival

Hours before the announcement of the selection, streaming giant Netflix announced it was pulling out of the festival despite potentially having four films in the running for honors, including Paul Greengrass' much-awaited "Norway" about the 2010 Utoya massacre.

Netflix's surprise move is seen as retaliation for a new Cannes rule banning movies that are not first released in French cinemas from the competition.

10 memorable winners of the Palme d'Or

Paris, Texas (1984)

Volker Schlöndorff garnered Germany's first Palme d'Or with the film version of the book "The Tin Drum" in 1979. Wim Wenders followed up in 1984 with "Paris, Texas," taking the audience and jury by storm. It also brought global recognition to the "New German Film" genre. Nastassja Kinski (shown here) played, alongside Harry Dean Stanton, the role of her career.

10 memorable winners of the Palme d'Or

Blue is the Warmest Color (2013)

Festival audiences loved the film "Blue is the Warmest Color" four years ago. French director Abdellatif Kechiche told the love story between two young women in such an intense and expressive way that the jury awarded the Palme d'Or not only to the director, but also to the two fantastic actresses, Léa Seydoux und Adèle Exarchopoulos.

10 memorable winners of the Palme d'Or

The White Ribbon (2009)

The 2009 Cannes jury quickly agreed that "The White Ribbon" was the most deserving film that year. Munich-born Austrian director Michael Haneke received the Palme d'Or for a film that managed to portray the stifling atmosphere of a small northern German town just before the outbreak of World War I. In 2012, Haneke received his second Golden Palm for his drama "Amour."

10 memorable winners of the Palme d'Or

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" from 1994 became a cult classic. The complex story, told playfully and ironically, took American cinema to a whole new level. The film would go on to have a significant influence on directors and screenplay writers.

10 memorable winners of the Palme d'Or

The Piano (1993)

Just a year earlier, the Golden Palm winner had also caused a sensation – but the kind that was long overdue. Director Jane Campion of New Zealand received the top accolade for her melancholy emigration drama about a pianist who couldn't speak. Campion became the first woman to claim the prestigious award.

10 memorable winners of the Palme d'Or

Wild at Heart (1990)

In 1990, the Palme d'Or winner stirred up controversy. David Lynch's wild and somewhat violent road movie divided the jury – until jury president Bernardo Bertolucci of Italy got his way. The genre-bending "Wild at Heart" prepared audiences for films from the likes of Quentin Tarantino.

10 memorable winners of the Palme d'Or

Yol (1982)

Cannes doesn't only present American and Western European films. In 1982, "Yol" became the first Turkish movie to win the Palm d'Or. Filmmaker Şerif Gören had to fill in on the project for director and screenplay writer Yılmaz Güney, who had to flee Turkey in 1981 for political reasons. Güney died of stomach cancer in 1984.

10 memorable winners of the Palme d'Or

Apocalypse Now (1979)

The 1979 competition proved memorable because the jury, presided over by French writer Françoise Sagan, couldn't agree on a winner – so they chose two. Along with Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam War film "Apocalypse Now," Volker Schlöndorff also took home a trophy for "The Tin Drum," based on the book by Günter Grass.

10 memorable winners of the Palme d'Or

Taxi Driver (1976)

Golden Palm winners often reflect the aesthetic developments in the world of cinema. In 1970, the jury demonstrated intuition by selecting the anti-war black comedy "MASH." Six years later, Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver," starring Jodie Foster and Robert De Niro, won the Palme d'Or. Both represented New Hollywood, which saw directors take more control over movie-making than production studios.

10 memorable winners of the Palme d'Or

Viridiana (1961)

Spanish-Mexico director Luis Buñuel received the Palme d'Or in 1961 for "Viridiana." Just three days after he accepted the award in Cannes, the film was banned in Spain because the Franco regime wasn't pleased with the director's anticlerical, anti-capitalistic approach. Today, "Viridiana" is considered a masterpiece of surrealist cinema.